Slip-resistant shoelace

ABSTRACT

A slip-resistant shoelace is provided. The shoelace includes an external tube and a core. The external tube is woven with textiles and formed with a cavity and has a substantially constant outer diameter. The core is disposed in the cavity and woven with textile threads including at least one first textile thread and second textile threads. The at least one first textile thread includes combining sections and interval sections arranged axially at intervals, and the second textile threads are woven and entangled with each combining sections to form an enlarged portion, wherein the outer diameter of each enlarged portion is larger than that of each interval section, and the outer diameter of each enlarged portion is smaller than the inner diameter of the external tube. Therefore, because of the enlarged portions, it can prevent knot slipping and maintain smooth appearance.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a slip-resistant shoelace which canprevent knot slipping.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A conventional shoelace after being knotted is easy to slip when beingtorn by external force. A slipped shoelace brings about danger andinconvenience. To prevent the shoelaces from slipping easily, aplurality of slip-resistant shoelaces are disclosed in the prior artssuch as TW M479474, TW M240854, TW 253245, and TW M337982. A solidshoelace is arranged with thick sections and thin sections (or flatsections) at intervals. If the shoelace is tied and knotted at the thinsections, the shoelace will not slip because it is blocked by the thicksections when being torn by external force. A more specific formdisclosed in TW M339939 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,946,779 defines that thethin sections have greater density than the thick sections do.

However, the structures mentioned above have following problems. First,the shoelace has a ragged appearance due to the thick and the thinsections arranged at intervals. Moreover, to obtain the thick sections,material needed for weaving is more than common uniform shoelaces.Besides, manufacturing the shoelace with various diameters is difficultand time-consuming. Manufacture of shoelace with sections of differentdensity is even more difficult. Besides, because the thick sections andthe thin sections are manufactured with the same amount of textiles butin different densities, the thick sections are easier to be compressed.Even if a knot is tied on one of the thin sections, the knot may stillslip since the thick sections are easily-compressed.

On the other hand, a structure with no difference in thickness inappearance is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,110,945. A hollow externaltube is filled with a core, wherein a plurality of protrusions isdisposed on the core. For example, the protrusions can be formed byknotting the core directly. This kind of shoelace can achieve the effectof slip-resistance of the above-mentioned patents. However, knotting thecore one by one to form the protrusions is a complex procedure which istime-consuming and energy-consuming, and the size of the protrusions islimited by the size of the core; therefore, the size of the protrusionscannot be changed in accordance with users' needs.

The present invention is, therefore, arisen to obviate or at leastmitigate the above mentioned disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main object of the present invention is to provide a slip-resistantshoelace to prevent knot slipping. Also, the slip-resistant shoelace hasa smooth appearance.

To achieve the above and other objects, a slip-resistant shoelace of thepresent invention includes an external tube and a core.

The external tube is woven with textiles and formed with a cavity. Theexternal tube has a substantially constant outer diameter, and the coreis disposed in the cavity of the external tube. The core is woven with aplurality of textile threads, wherein the textile threads include atleast one first textile thread and a plurality of second textilethreads. The at least one first textile thread includes a plurality ofcombining sections and a plurality of interval sections arranged axiallyat intervals, and the second textile threads are woven and entangledwith each combining section of the at least one first textile thread toform an enlarged portion, wherein an outer diameter of each enlargedportion is larger than that of each interval section, and the outerdiameter of each enlarged portion is smaller than an inner diameter ofthe external tube.

Thereby, the interval sections have a smaller outer diameter due to notbeing woven and entangled with the second textile threads; therefore,the distance between the interval sections and an inner wall of theexternal tube is greater than the distance between the enlarged portionsand the inner wall of the external tube to provide spaces for inwardcompression. When tying a knot, users can take the interval sections asknotting positions so as to prevent the knots from slipping via the helpof the enlarged portions with larger diameter. In addition, the core ofthe present invention is directly woven with textiles; hence, there isno need to knot the core or dispose protrusions on the core, and it iseasy to be manufactured. The slip-resistant shoelace of the presentinvention has a smooth appearance like common shoelaces, and it isaesthetic and convenient to tie.

The present invention will become more obvious from the followingdescription when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,which show, for purpose of illustrations only, the preferredembodiment(s) in accordance with the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective breakdown drawing of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the present invention;

FIG. 2A is a cross-section view of the present invention from anotherperspective;

FIG. 3 is an illustration showing the present invention in use;

FIG. 3A is a partially-enlarged view of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Please refer to FIGS. 1, 2 and 2A. The present invention provides aslip-resistant shoelace 10 including an external tube 11 and a core 12.

The external tube 11 is woven with textiles and formed with a cavity111, and the external tube 11 has an axially constant outer diameter.The core 12 is disposed in the cavity 111 of the external tube 11, thecore 12 is woven with a plurality of textile threads, wherein thetextile threads include at least one first textile thread 121 and aplurality of textile threads 122. The at least one first textile thread121 includes a plurality of combining sections and a plurality ofinterval sections arranged axially at intervals, and the second textilethreads 122 are woven and entangled with each combining section of theat least one first textile thread 121 to form an enlarged portion 123,wherein an outer diameter of each enlarged portion 123 is larger thanthat of each interval section, and the outer diameter of each enlargedportion 123 is smaller than an inner diameter of the external tube 11.Preferably, the textile threads include a plurality of the first textilethreads 121 and a plurality of the second textile threads 122, whereinthe first textile threads 121 are firstly woven and entangled with eachother and then with the second textile threads 122.

In the main embodiment of the present invention, each enlarged portion123 has end portions 1231 on two axially corresponding ends, and acentral portion 1232 is disposed between the two end portions 1231. Theat least one first textile thread 121 is entangled outside the secondtextile threads 122 at each end portion 1231, and the at least one firsttextile thread 121 is capsulated in and entangled by the second textilethreads 122 at the central portion 1232, so tighter structures areformed at the end portions 1231 while wider and looser structures areformed at the central portions 1232. Besides, different ways of weavingand entanglement may create better slip-resistant effect.

To achieve better slip-resistant effect, when the first textile threadsare woven along the axis, the second textile threads can be woven andentangled with the first textile threads for a predetermined distancebefore being cut. Then, the first textile threads are continuously woven(the interval sections are formed), and after a predetermined distance,the first textile threads will again be woven with the second textilethreads to form the enlarged portions. After the first and the secondtextile threads are woven together for a predetermined distance, thesecond textile threads will be cut again, and so on. The weavingprocedures can be done quickly and precisely by machine.

Please refer to FIGS. 1, 2 and 2A along with FIGS. 3 and 3A for actualpractice. When a user is stretching and tying the shoelace on a shoebody 20, he/she can allocate the parts without the enlarged portions 123of the slip-resistant shoelace 10 (the interval sections of the firsttextile threads 121) to a shoelace hole and a knotting position 101.Then, when the parts without the enlarged portions 123 of theslip-resistant shoelace 10 are torn by the shoelace holes or pressed bythe knotting position, they would be compressed and flattened to achievethe effect of tight knot. Push and pull of external force would belimited by the enlarged portions 123 to prevent the slip-resistantshoelace 10 from slipping and loosing.

Thereby, the slip-resistant shoelace of the present invention canprevent the shoelace from knot slipping which may cause safety risks ofusers, and it also has smooth appearance like common shoelaces, so itwon't get stuck in the knotting process. What's more important, becausethe core is woven completely by textiles, it is softer. On the otherhand, when manufacturing the present invention, people don't have tospend too much time and energy tying knots on the textile threads toform the protrusions or disposing protrusive blocks in the internal ofthe external tube; instead, the core of the present invention iscompleted by weaving and entanglement without extra work. The length andinterval of the enlarged portions can even be set by computer, so it isconvenient to be manufactured by automatic machines which cost less andhave better productive efficiency.

What is claimed is:
 1. A slip-resistant shoelace, including: an externaltube, woven with textiles and formed with a cavity, the external tubehaving a substantially constant outer diameter; and a core, disposed inthe cavity of the external tube, the core woven with a plurality oftextile threads, wherein the textile threads include at least one firsttextile thread and a plurality of second textile threads, the at leastone first textile thread includes a plurality of combining sections anda plurality of interval sections arranged axially at intervals, and thesecond textile threads are woven and entangled with each of thecombining sections of the at least one first textile thread to form anenlarged portion, wherein the outer diameter of each enlarged portion islarger than that of each interval section, and the outer diameter ofeach enlarged portion is smaller than that of the inner diameter of theexternal tube.
 2. The slip-resistant shoelace of claim 1, wherein eachenlarged portion has two end portions on two axially corresponding endsthereof, a central portion is disposed between the two end portions, theat least one first textile thread is entangled outside the secondtextile threads at each end portion, and the at least one first textilethread is capsulated in and entangled by the second textile threads atthe central portion.
 3. The slip-resistant shoelace of claim 1, whereinthe textile threads include a plurality of the first textile threads anda plurality of the second textile threads, and the first textile threadsare woven and entangled with each other first and then with the secondtextile threads.